Jackson's Vengeance

Chapter 10

Tori’s POV

Three weeks are over, and we are ready to fight. All the injured are healed. It is good to see so many happy and smiling. While there are a few I am wary of, like Angelo. He still has not said a word to me. Whenever he is in conversation and I show up, he stops talking and walks away. I find him strange and Hilda says I should just ignore him because he is crazy. I believe her. Why wouldn’t he speak in front of me? It makes no sense at all. It is just crazy.

Speaking of crazy, the last three weeks has been the craziest time of my life. Right now, we shift and start running. Caleb brought word that the coven is 5 miles north. We know that Frans has three different covens set up. He moves between the three and when he arrived last night Caleb watched, and this morning came to tell us that it was time. The wait till nightfall was a dreadful experience but we all waited.

Now we are on the way to the fight of our lives. I must admit, I have never felt this free. Running through the open forest. The wind kissing my face as I speed past. I know I can go faster but out of respect for Jackson I slow down. He is the Alpha after all.

That’s the other crazy part of the past three weeks. I have had to watch Cayley and Lin throw themselves at him every chance they got. What made it even crazier was the fact that it infuriated me. It shook me to the core, and I wanted to go over to them and drag them out by the hair, but I kept my cool. I had no right to feel this way. After all, I was just some stranger he watched from afar.

He was always watching me during the day. I could feel his gaze burning into my skin. At night I would stand at the window and watch his room. I don’t know if he could tell I was watching but every night he would turn Cayley and Lin away. They seemed persistent because every night they always came back and knocked on his door hoping he would let them in but he never did.

Then we would stare at each other through the window I couldn’t see him fully, just the silhouette, but I knew he was there. If I ever left my room and went for a walk, he would soon follow and watch me swim or run but he would never talk to me or acknowledge me. A few times a felt a tug at my heart when he walked away from me but I just ignored it. Deep down I knew he hated me, and I could understand why.

As the days passed by, I was more and more aware of him and it scared me so very much. I was never afraid of anything but the look in his eyes scared me more than anything in my life. On cue, he turned and looked at me as if he knew that I was thinking about him.

We are outside the coven, waiting for the guard change so we can make our move. Caleb and Mike scout the surrounding area. The rest of us wait for the signal to charge in. We are going to fight in our human form to avoid them using the type of wolf poison on us. Angelo and Gail need to give us the signal and we can see the gates open and Jackson is agitated waiting then he makes the call to go before the signal, once the gate closes we will not get in. Just as we enter the gate Angelo sends the signal.

We all make it in safely, Caleb, Mike, Angelo, and Gail need to take care of the vampires outside the gate. While we enter and find Frans. The plan is to kill all henchmen, rescue any captured, and kill Frans. Seems like an easy plan but when we arrive inside a hand full of henchmen are waiting for us. Minnie, Iva, and Lin: go looking for any captured. Bruce, Hilda, Jackson, and I take the vampires, Mike and Caleb join us. We fight, matching blow for blow, the anger we have hidden away emerges and the vampires fall. We all agreed that the henchmen need to die, they cannot be trusted and so each one loses his head. One by one we finish them off.

“This feels too easy, like the campsite,” Jackson says.

“It feels like a trap, let us find the others,” I reply.

“Let’s go.” Jackson leads us into another section of the house. We find the rest and they haven’t found anything. We search again, even splitting up and coming back with nothing,

“Looks like they left in a hurry though,” Bruce says.

“It is like they knew we were coming,” I say.

“How is that possible?” Jackson says.

I can see he is angry but he is keeping his cool, he runs his fingers through his hair in frustration and I feel it too. We are so close to ending this. How is it possible that they knew we were coming. How could they have got out in the time that we entered the gate?

“Where the hell have you two been?” Iva says angrily looking at the door.

“Gail, had some kind of reaction, she could not breath might have been that wolfsbane poison,” Angelo said.

I came out from behind Jackson and his eyes widened in shock. His voice sounded so familiar and I stared at him trying to figure out where I heard his voice before. Once he noticed me, he just walked out with Gail, he didn’t seem interested in what we found. On the way back to the safehouse, I kept wondering if someone had sold us out, and if someone did who would it be. I also knew that I was the number one suspect because of their lack of trust in me.

“Listen all, we can’t let this bring us down, what matters is that we found the first coven house and we know now that he is scared because if he wasn’t scared he would not have run,” Jackson says when we arrive at the safehouse.

“There is no way for them to go back to the first coven house now, especially after we left it in flames. Now we send out our scouts. When they bring us the word of his whereabouts, we will attack. He has no place to hide. Eventually, we will find him. He has only so many places he can hide.”

Jackson’s speech seemed to have helped everyone feel better. It is time to take a swim and have a rest. My body is tired and my mind is all over the place. I walk down to the lake and strip. When I jump into the water, I feel the coolness of the water calm my raging mind. I float around for a long time, my eyes closed and the tension slowly melting away.

I didn’t voice my thoughts about suspecting someone, I needed to keep my eyes open and my guard up. Suddenly I hear a twig crack, I open my eyes and it’s Mike. I sink into the water and Mike comes closer to the water.

“Got room in there for another?” He asks sweetly.

“I don’t think so!” I say.

“Oh come on, your part of the pack now, and it's ok we adults here.”

“Can you please leave?” I say.

“I came out here to talk to you, get to know you.” He says.

“You couldn’t do that when I had all my clothes on?” I ask feeling very annoyed by this situation.

“I see how everyone looks at you. You need someone on your side.” He has a ridiculous smirk on his face.

I am still in the water, I have no desire for this wolf to see me naked. No doubt he knew I was out here swimming and thought he would get me when I am naked and vulnerable. He has no idea that I have a strength that is beyond his imagination. If he makes one wrong move, I will break his arms and leave him here to rot.

“A beautiful woman like yourself needs a strong man to take care of you, Tori.”

“I can take care of myself.”

“How about you come out of the water and we talk, maybe take this conversation to my room or yours.”

“I would much rather drown myself,” I reply.

“I have all night honey, you going to come out of that water eventually.” He says.

I am about to say something horrible when I feel his presence approach. Jackson, in his wolf form. He walks up to Mike and howls at him in his face. Mike backs away and walks away quickly. Jackson picks up my clothes and tosses them to me. The whole time he stays in his wolf form. He turns around while I dress. When I am done he is about to walk away when I say,

“Jackson!” He stops and I walk over to him. I sit down beside him and he looks at me with questioning eyes.

“Thank you,” I say.

I put my hand out to touch his face and he backs away but stops as my hand touches him. He rubs the side of his face against the side of my hands and I smile at him. Then he runs off and I sit there feeling so confused.

“What is happening to me?” I ask out loud.